Pebbles at Kilmurrin Cove – Part 2 – Jessica's Nature Blog

Here are some more examples of the pebbles at Kilmurrin Cove on the Copper Coast in County Waterford, Southern Ireland (see the previous post). Again, most of them seem to be volcanic rocks of Ordovician age, derived from the underlying bedrock of the beach and the outcrops in the surrounding cliffs, and including rhyolite in its solidified lava form and also as consolidated volcanic ash and breccias. Some stones may be of different geological types and origins, having been brought from much further afield and deposited by melting ice sheets.

This time most of the beach stones were photographed at the western end of the beach where the stream or small river, that is dammed-up behind the pebble bank, surfaces through the stones and makes a break for the sea via jagged outcropping bedrock. The water is stained tea-colour by the peat through which it has flowed down the glaciated valley.

Click on the pictures to enlarge them and see the description.